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“Absolutely! We’re going to get through this retreat together…if I stay that is.”
Vance started flitting around the room again. “What do you mean? You’re not staying? Why wouldn’t you stay? Are you not committed to being clean anymore? Vance sat again, staring at her with blinking eyes. She sat up, rubbing her hands down her face.
“I’m staying,” she sighed. “I’m just…nervous I guess.”
“I am too. What’s your poison? Is it blood? It’s blood, right. Mine is nectar. I shouldn’t have even tried it in the first place, but I did. Did you mean to try blood? What makes you want to stop? Am I asking too many personal questions? I’m sorry. I tend to talk a lot.”
Lottie laughed lightly. “You’re fine. I don’t mind the questions. Itisblood. I was…uh…born into it. I never knew any other way.”
“So, why then?” Vance went to the bar to make a drink. Lottie noticed a small flask he pulled from his pocket. Nectar, she assumed. Pushing herself off her bed, Lottie moved to the bar once Vance was done mixing his own drink. She pulled an ice-cold bottle of bourbon from the freezer along with an ice tray. She pulled a lowball glass from the shelf dropping in a few ice cubes before pouring in the near syrupy liquor.
“Might as well enjoy our last night, right?” Lottie raised her glass to Vance; he clinked his against hers and they both sipped from their drinks.
“Are you going to stop drinking too?” Vance asked.
Lottie considered his question. “Probably not. It doesn’t do much for me but after all this time it’s become comforting somehow.”
“I get that. The nectar, it started when I was young.” Vance said in a faint voice. “The first boy I ever kissed got me hooked on it. He’s gone now. Died in the Fae war of 2012.”
“That’s terrible!” Lottie stared at her roommate waiting for him to elaborate.
He just shrugged like a whole war wasn’t something that should be explained. Setting down his empty glass, Vance stood. “I need a snack. I didn’t really eat dinner. Did you? Do you want to see what the Cave Bar has?”
Lottie blinked twice, taken back by the personality change but nodded. “Sure. I’ll go down with you.”
“Oh my gosh! Duh!” Vance slapped a hand against his forehead, laughing. “You don’t eat! You need to…drink? Feed? What do you call it?
It was Lottie’s turn to chuckle. “I, uh, eat, just not like you do.”
“We should go then!” Vance seemed extra jittery to Lottie, but she couldn’t say for sure. The man was always fidgety. Grabbing her wallet, Lottie followed the faerie out the door and to the elevator. Vance hummed a happy little tune on the way to the lobby. Just before the doors opened a small buzzing sound began. With the ding of the door, Vance shot out like a rocket flying high to the ceiling of the grand lobby then back down. He continued humming as he flew in between people sitting in the plush chairs surrounding the fireplace and people checking in at the front desk. People were both delighted and annoyed, but Lottie was laughing at the spectacle. She wondered if this was normal for Vance or if this is why he was trying to get off the nectar. Sitting down in a chair across from the Cave Bar entrance, Lottie checked her phone to see if any of her backstabbing friends had answered her texts. They hadn’t. After a few more minutes of watching Vance fly around the room she watched as security guards came in. They stood, hands on their hips, discussing the best option to bring him down. Before they made a decision, Vance flew down low, turned upside down fluffing Lottie’s hair, and flew out the front door cackling. The patrons in the lobby clapped at his departure.
Letting a few more minutes pass, Lottie wondered if Vance was coming back or if she should go ahead without him. Entering The Cave, she was impressed. At first the area gave the impression of a small dive bar, but it was large, sparkling clean, and sophisticated.Why had Selena never invited us here?The walls looked exactly like you had just entered an actual cave except for the blue neon lights that lit the wall behind the bar, filled with any liquor you could request. A local singer, Zelda, was crooning out a love song on stage. The background was soft pink, her band lost in the shadows. Lottie knew better than to stare too long at the Siren on stage. They’d had a roll in the hay a time or two even though Zelda only dated men. She dated different men visiting the resort weekly.
Hearing a commotion at the bar, Lottie pulled her gaze away from the stage trying to shake away her memories of Zelda. She watched, amused, as Vance sauntered into the bar with round of applause from the audience. He smiled, waved then took a small bow. Zelda stopped singing, folding her arms across her chest, obviously annoyed at the interruption. Vance took a seat next to Lottie at a small table near the bar.
She clapped slowly smiling and shaking her head. “That was quite the show.”
Squinting his eyes, Vance started to rub his temples.
“Hey,” Lottie leaned in. “Are you okay?”
“I need water,” he croaked out.
Jumping from her seat, she went to the bar asking for water and telling the bartender to charge it her room. At some point in the past few minutes Zelda started singing again and everyone in the cave went back to listening to her. Back at their table, Lottie knelt down next to Vance who had his head resting on the table.
“Here, drink this water.”
Vance took the bottle downing the entire thing in two gulps.
“Do you want more?”
He shook his head no. “I’ll be fine. It’s just, like, an instant hangover when the nectar wears off.”
“Wow.” Lottie stood up. “That’s an awful quick high.”
Vance just nodded as the door to The Cave opened and a group of six strolled in laughing and talking. A host appeared to sit them. Watching as the group walked through the bar, Lottie noticed Nova holding hands with the man she’d seen her with outside of the coffee shop and the man on the poster. She rolled her eyes.
“Vance!” one of the girls in the group ran toward the faerie flinging her arms around his neck.
